A distinctly Appalachian-themed iteration of a classic fantasy premise.
A nurse discovers she possesses ancient mountain magic in O’Quinn’s West Virginia-set fantasy novel.
Afton Sullivan works as a prison nurse, but her strange powers make it difficult to do her job. When she lays hands on her patients, she feels a shock and is able to see into their thoughts—the memories of their crimes and their future intentions. Sometimes, when her revulsion is too great, her power seems to kill the patient. When an older nurse recognizes Afton’s abilities as a form of ancient magic (and then warns her not to trust the new assistant director of nursing—a woman who recently appeared in one of Afton’s dreams—before dying mysteriously), Afton questions the source of her powers. Using a number left by the dead woman, Afton contacts Miss Betty, a folk healer who introduces Afton to the concept of the Cunnin’ Folk. Though from the outside they appear to be mere “Appalachian Grannies,” the Cunnin’ Folk “tend to know things that most don’t. These people protect the mountains roundabout and those who belong here. They go to great lengths to keep the secrets of the mountain people.” Miss Betty is one, and apparently Afton is, too. What’s more, Afton is a special case, so special that she was hidden away so that she would not be murdered, like her parents, by enemies of the Cunnin’ Folk. Whether she likes it or not, Afton is now involved in a struggle between light and dark magic, and there’s no guarantee that she will make it out of the hollers alive. O’Quinn’s breathless prose succeeds in evoking the romance and magic of the Appalachians, mountains “that seemed scarcely touched by the outside world, and somehow remained unchanged for many generations. The battles in the modern world hadn’t tainted or influenced this place.” The premise is a familiar one for fantasy readers, and the plot unfolds at a pace that some may find too leisurely, but many will enjoy the locale-specific spell O’Quinn weaves in this fantastic tale.
A distinctly Appalachian-themed iteration of a classic fantasy premise.Pub Date: June 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781963355291
Page Count: 237
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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